Oil price retreat dampens UAE growth.

Several media outlets reported on an HSBC Group (London) report titled, "Gulf Economic Forecast," released January 18, 2007, which said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was on track to grow 6.2 percent during 2007, and slightly slower at 5.8 percent during 2008. What some stories carried by the international financial press pointed out, though, was that the UAE's economy-and its consumers-were hit hard by the recent drop in oil prices.

For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the UAE's GDP grew 11.5 percent in 2006 (when oil prices were soaring), and...